Part 6: Cards

Update 6: Cards






Music: Drake Castle


Is it safe? Will we be okay?

Ha ha ha! Don't worry!

Alright! I won't worry since you're here, Vahn.


I hadn't really thought about it before, but Vahn is the first human Noa's ever met, and now she's about to get thrown into a human society. That would be pretty intimidating, really.





King Drake: So modest! Yet there is no need to be, as we already know. Shortly before you arrived, a peddler came and told us everything! One look at the shining Seru on your arms and I understand how this miracle occurred. I am Drake III., king of this castle. You have my deepest gratitude.

Um, can I ask you something?

Drake: What is it, young lady?

There's some weird hair growing under your nose.

Drake: What? Oh! Ha ha ha! Young lady, this is...this is called a moustache.

Whiskers? Whiskers! How weird.

Drake: Oh? Actually I am quite fond of my moustache. Ha ha ha! So be it. Now I wish to hear about what happened. Young travelers, come over here.


I've never seen mustache spelled with an o and apparently Open Office hasn't either. Translation flub or is it just a word that's spelled differently in different places?





Drake: So Vahn was heading to Biron Monastery in search of Mei's mother. My order to open the water gate must have caused you great hardship! I am sorry for that. But here, take this. It is the Water Key.





Drake: I have a favor to ask of you. I know that you both are on separate quests. But I ask you to remember the horrible Mist that covers the earth. And that those like you, chosen by Ra-Seru, have a holy mission. I have not the authority to command you. You have saved Rim Elm and Drake Castle form the Mist...But the suffering will not truly end until the whole world is free of the Mist!

Mr. Drake, what does “suffer” mean? Are you talking about dinner?

Drake: No, ha ha ha! That's “supper”. “Suffer” means to be very sad.

Suffering is when sad things happen...No! I don't want any more sad things to happen! I hate suffering! Vahn, that means we have to destroy the Mist! That will stop the suffering.

Drake: Yes, I agree with Noa. Ha ha ha! I will detain you no further. Please continue on your journey. I will pray hard for a safe trip. Good luck!


I like King Drake. He's so jolly.





This little item is hiding out where King Drake was locked away in the Mist. This allows us to buy secret items from shops that would ordinarily be unavailable. Of course, these items are usually quite expensive, but some of them are worthwhile.





Sure, I could use a rest after Mt. Rikuroa.






















Music: Noa's Dream


Who's there? Who is that? Whose voice is that?

Mother: Noa, my dear...Mother can't hear you very well. Mother can't see you very well.

M-Mother? Are you my mother?

Mother: Noa...I want to see you. It's so dark here...Freezing cold...I'm...in the deepest Mist...

The Mist! You're in the deepest Mist?

Mother: Mother is...at the source...of the Mist...





























Right, um, moving on...There are a few NPCs who can teach you how to perform basic Arts if you haven't already learned them. I have memory and GameFAQs so I'm not really worried about it.





Time to head out of the castle. When we reach the courtyard...


Vahn...So many...So many...people!





I want to talk to them! I want to talk about happy things! I'll see you later. I'm going!


Noa rushes off to talk to the various shopkeepers. Let's follow her, shall we?





Arms Dealer: Young lady, that's a Fighting Robe. It doesn't just look good. It will protect those pretty arms of yours!

Wow! That's great! A “Fighting Robe”! How cool!

Arms Dealer: Ha ha ha! What a charming young lady! I'll give you a good price.


Noa makes a “gather item” motion and starts to run off.


Arms Dealer: Hey, hey! Wait a minute! You gotta pay for that! Money! You know, money?

Money? What is that? Vahn, tell me what money is!

What you get for killing monsters.

Oh. I don't really get it. I guess I'm just a goofy kid. Oh well. OK, you can have this back!

Arms Dealer: Y-You don't want it?

Nope! I still don't know about money, so I don't want it! Oh, let's go talk to those people over there!


And so Noa charges off towards the Item Shop. I've since been informed that if you tell her you don't know what money is, the shopkeeper will let you have the Fighting Robe for free, so you can save a good 1100 G.





Vahn, now I'm going to give you a test about supplies!


Uh, sure! Why not?





This question is a little unfair since we haven't seen two of the options, but Berry is the correct answer.







Wow, Vahn! How did you know that? You're so incredible! Very good! You know everything, don't you, Vahn? Here, take this.


Our reward is ten Healing Shrooms! I believe these and the ones from Snowdrift Cave are the only ones in the game. Curiously, they sell for less than Healing Leaves do despite their scarcity.

And again, it turns out I missed out on something cool here. If you answer all of Noa's questions incorrectly, she gives you a Wisdom Water instead, which I'd say is far more valuable.


Oh! I want to go over there! Let's talk to those people!





A place where you sleep? Oh! That's boring! Thanks, Vahn! I had fun talking to everyone! I'm done. Now let's go someplace you want to go, Vahn!





This is the arms dealer's stuff (he doesn't have any Platinum Card stuff, nor does the item shop). The stuff for Vahn is old, and I am just shy of money to afford everything for Noa, but my travels through the rest of the update got me just enough to buy everything so I came back later and got it all.









Now Noa has her first Hyper Art! I was never terribly impressed with Noa's Hyper Arts – they're more expensive than her normal Arts but don't seem to actually be any more powerful – but I'll try to remember to show it off nonetheless.





Between Drake Castle and Biron Monastery, there are two more paths towards the heavy Mist. Let's try them out.





Music: Buma in the Mist


Just beyond this valley is the Mist Generator!

The Mist produced by the Mist Generator spreads out into the areas beyond the valley.

I want to destroy the Mist Generator! I wanna get rid of the Mist!

The Mist here is too thick! My power is almost too weak to keep us form succumbing to the Mist!

If we only had a little more Genesis Tree power! Just a little more!

Vahn, let's find another Genesis Tree! If we find it...then we can pass through here and destroy the Mist Generator!


Sound like a plan to me! Maybe there will be one near Biron Monastery. Might as well look while we're in the area.





Ah, definitely worth the trip!







[see previous comment]





Our next goal is Biron Monastery as I suggested before, but I have a couple things to take care of in Rim Elm first.





Music: Mei's Theme


Vahn, who is this person?

I'm Noa, a friend of Vahn's!

Oh, I see. Noa. So you're Vahn's friend. I'm pleased to meet you. I'm Mei. I'm Vahn's friend, too.

If you're Vahn's friend, that makes you my friend, too. Nice to meet you, Mei! Vahn, I like Mei! She's nice!

Vahn, you have made a very charming friend! I'm happy for you.


It's nice to see the two potential love interests getting along, isn't it? At least, I think they were. I'm not good at picking up on the subtle nuances of female turf wars.





Hey, remember that drawer I thought I wouldn't be able to open for a while? Well, it just kind of is unlocked now, and it has this curious item in it.

Basically, once you have the Point Card, every time you buy something the card gets 5% of the value of the item added (so if you buy a 1000 gold item, then the Point Card earns fifty points). Then, the points can be spent in battle to deal damage! So the more you spend, the more damage you can bust out on some poor, unsuspecting foe. This can be used to completely trivialize some enemies and bosses, and I may very well never use it except maybe one time to show it off. We'll see. Either way, I like the idea behind it, and I can't really think of anything like it that I've seen since.





Oh yeah, this is the Rim Elm store's updated Platinum Card menu. The Azure Jewel is the same as the Scarlet Jewel but boosts Lower Def instead of Upper.





And now here we are at Biron Monastery. We'll check it out next time.